LIRR Talks Break Down, Service Will Decrease To Prepare For Strike

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Tom Prendergast listens to members of Congress speak to the press following a meeting with MTA officials on July 9.

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A deal to avert a Long Island Rail Road shutdown remained elusive Monday after the latest round of talks between leaders of unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke down without an agreement.

Thomas Prendergast, chairman and chief executive of the authority, said “there truly is a gulf” between both sides as a possible strike looms as soon as Sunday.

Anthony Simon, a chief spokesman for a coalition of LIRR unions, said negotiations had collapsed and that the eight unions in the talks are now proceeding with plans for a strike.

“The strike will begin 12:01 a.m. this Sunday,” Mr. Simon said. “Riders should be aware that the winding down of service will begin well before then, perhaps as early as Wednesday, as the railroad needs to secure its equipment.”

An MTA official said the unions’ contention that an LIRR service wind-down could come as soon as Wednesday is inaccurate, but declined to elaborate.

Last week the MTA heard the latest counteroffer from union leaders.

“There’s a long distance between the offer we have up on the table and their willingness and ability to be able to respond to that and close this gap,” Mr. Prendergast said in a statement Monday following the meeting at a Midtown Manhattan law firm.

Talks broke shortly after the noon meeting began, Mr. Simon said.

“They did not counter whatsoever,” he said of the MTA.

The MTA plans a 3 p.m. briefing for reporters on the latest in the LIRR talks. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the two sides planned to hold another meeting.

Employees who run the nation’s busiest railroad can legally go on strike as early as Sunday, as a federal mediation process nears exhaustion. The eight unions in the talks represent some 5,400 LIRR employees.

The MTA’s latest offer would have afforded 17% raises over a term of seven years. All current employees would pay 2% of their regular pay toward health-care costs, up from no contributions. Under the authority’s proposal, it would take new employees longer to reach top pay levels. New employees would contribute 4% of their pay toward health-care costs. And unlike current employees, they would also have to keep contributing to their pensions after 10 years on the job.

The LIRR unions haven’t publicly disclosed their latest counteroffer to the MTA. But federal mediators, in siding with the unions, had recommended 17% in wage bumps over a shorter term of six years. The federal mediators’ also recommended requiring current LIRR employees to contribute 1% of their regular pay toward health-care in 2010, with their contributions escalating to 2.25% in 2015.